13 Children of David and Louise Turpin

Thirteen children–ten girls and three boys, ages 2 to 29–were starved and imprisoned by their parents, David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin. The children were homeschooled.

The Turpins moved from Texas to California around 2010 and registered their homeschool as Sandcastle Day School in 2011. Neighbors did not know how many children lived there because they rarely saw them. When the children were rescued, only six of them were still minors–Sandcastle listed its enrollment as: “one student in each of the fifth, sixth, eighth, nine, 10th and 12th grades.” However, all of the Turpins’ children, even the adults, were malnourished, and some were “shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings.”

The abuse came to light when the Turpins’ 17-year-old daughter escaped from the home and called 911 on her parents’ cell phone. All thirteen of the Turpins’ children were hospitalized and the Turpins were charged with torture and child endangerment.